The results of the inquiry were not published until October 2000 and the investigation cost an estimated £26m.

Among many points it concluded the Conservative government at the time played down the links between BSE-infected beef and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) and misled the public about the risks posed by so-called mad cow disease.

It said there was poor enforcement of the 1989 ban on specified bovine offal (brain, spinal cord and other tissue) entering the human food chain.

The issues raised by the BSE crisis continue to plague the farming industry and decrease confidence in British beef.